installment plan

American  

noun

1. a system for paying for an item in fixed amounts at specified intervals.

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installment plan British  

noun

1. Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): hire-purchase.  a system for purchasing merchandise, such as cars or furniture, in which the buyer takes possession of the merchandise on payment of a deposit and completes the purchase by paying a series of regular instalments while the seller retains ownership until the final instalment is paid

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Etymology

Origin of installment plan

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

If a person arranges an installment plan, Bandebo noted that’s not reflected as a delinquent payment.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 25, 2026

Dividing a transaction into, say, a pay-in-four installment plan sounds straightforward and manageable.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 6, 2022

AT&T’s starts at $13.89 per month when you buy their installment plan.

From The Verge • Aug. 10, 2022

A home improvement loan is an unsecured loan provided by a lender that would allow you to finance major repairs and pay it back on an installment plan.

From Slate • Jul. 2, 2022

They sometimes worked on the installment plan, taking little or no money up front from a defector or his family.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden